What you need to know about E10

We answer some common questions about Ethanol blended petrol.

Ethanol is an alcohol-based fuel produced from the fermentation of a range of plants including sugar cane, wheat, corn, sorghum and barley.

What is E10?

E10 is a mixture of conventional unleaded petrol and ethanol. E10 means it is 90 per cent petrol and 10 per cent ethanol.

Can I use E10 in my car?

Most modern cars (those with fuel injection instead of carburettors) can use E10. You can check if you car is capable of running on E10 by consulting the owner's manual. Alternatively, many new cars will have a sticker inside the fuel flap that tells you what fuel your car can run on, and whether it is compatible with E10.

Related Content

No, not if your car is designed to run on it. But some studies have found in certain cars (particularly older models) the ethanol can cause damage to the fuel system.

Is it better to use E10 or premium unleaded?

There really isn?t a clear answer to this. The problem with E10 is it contains less energy than petrol, so E10 burns quicker than premium unleaded (95 and 98 octane).

Testing conducted by Drive has shown that premium unleaded (98 octane) is more efficient than E10 in both city and highway driving.

But, depending on the price of fuel at the pump (although E10 is generally significantly cheaper than premium unleaded), it can be cheaper to run your car on E10, even though it has higher fuel consumption.

It is also worth noting that running on premium unleaded means better performance from your engine (because it has a higher octane rating) and most fuel brands use cleaning additives in premium unleaded that help clean your engine as you drive.

Some modern cars have a minimum requirement to use premium unleaded (this will be indicated on the inside of your fuel flap) for optimum efficiency and performance. Don't be alarmed if you do fill the petrol tank with E10 though, as the computer will compensate for it.

Drive Comments

0 Comments

Facebook Comments

Share

Width

Profile

Rim

The size of your tyre is located on the sidewall of your tyre.It will be similar to the sample below.